Hotel pet peeves

Some good advice I once received was to the effect that you’ve got to be both a big picture and a little picture person to succeed. In too many cases, ignoring the little picture can detract from a customer’s or client’s perception of the big picture. A recurring and, for me, frustrating example of this is the labeling of the little containers of hair care and other products one finds in hotels. Often, as in the illustration below, the size, shape, color and labeling of the containers for shampoo and conditioner is exactly the same, except for the actual word “Shampoo” or “Conditioner” in microscopic print.

The one place where most of us have poor vision (because we are not wearing our glasses) is where we use these products — the shower or tub. It makes me wonder if the designer of these packages ever really used them. I know that if I end up using the conditioner (or, even worse, body lotion) on my hair first, I’ll be slightly annoyed with my hotel stay, no matter how nice everything else might be. How hard would it be to make these packages in different colors, or with a large S or C on the front?

Another problem I often find in hotels is slow running or non-running drains. I’m pretty sure that housekeepers run the water in both sinks and showers/tubs when cleaning hotel rooms. Shouldn’t they be encouraged to report slow or clogged drains to maintenance so they can be fixed before the next guest arrives?

The biggest peeve I have with hotels is the mandatory “resort” or other fees they impose, either for things and services you don’t want, that you would rather be able to purchase a la carte or that were, or should be, provided in the basic cost of the room. Added mandatory fees that allow a business to advertise one price but require the customer to pay a different price should be illegal. If a hotel does not want to include wi fi in its basic rate, that’s OK with me, as long as it’s disclosed. But don’t surprise me when I arrive by making me pay extra for wi fi or anything else if I don’t want it or need it.